SEACOM has revealed that its technical team has identified the exact location of the fault and the repair process has been fully mobilised.

“The faulty section of the cable is at one of the deepest points along its route, some 4700m deep. This may require for robotics to be deployed to locate and retrieve the cable for repairs to be undertaken on board the specialised repair ship before replacing the cable back on the ocean floor” says the company.

The fault has caused numerous problems with international connectivity for South African’s who are connected via the east coast submarine cable system.

The specialised repair ship is being deployed but information on its whereabouts and the exact timeline of the repairs cannot be made available as the repair process is managed by the contractors, the company added.

“This is common practice in the industry. Whilst the repair process is expected to continue for several days, the actual completion date remains unknown due to several factors such as transit time of the ship, weather conditions and time to locate the cable.”

South African Internet Service Provider’s such as MWEB and Afrihost have been forced to implement redundancy and alternative connectivity options. SEACOM has added that it is assisting local operators in finding alternative options.

“SEACOM has successfully sourced and activated restoration capacity on other cable networks servicing eastern and southern Africa and will continue to work closely with all parties to ensure that restoration capacity is made available to additional clients requiring it.”

The system is expected to become fully operational early next week.
 

Image courtesy of Naked News.